Israel/Jordan stand off after violent weekend

It is reported that on Friday, three Israelis were killed in their home in the West Bank settlement when police say a young Palestinian man breached the settlement’s security fence and stabbed them to death.

The Israeli military has arrested more than 20 Palestinians in an overnight sweep near the site of the attack, according to an Israeli military official. The Palestinians were suspected of preparing attacks in the immediate future or of being members of Hamas, the official said.

Israeli President Netanyahu said Israel would look to destroy the home of the attacker as soon as possible, which – he says – is a routine measure intended to deter future attacks.

Meanwhile, four Palestinians have been killed in ongoing demonstrations over the weekend.

Israel has installed security cameras near the entrance to Temple Mount, one of the holiest sites in Jerusalem, on top of the metal detectors installed there last week. The metal detectors are seen by Palestinians and Arab countries as an attempt by Israel to unilaterally exert control over the holy site.

President of the Palestinian Territory, Mahmoud Abbas has suspended all contact between Palestine and the Israeli government in protest of the metal detectors.

On Sunday, an Israeli embassy security guard fatally shot two Jordanians in Amman after one reportedly attacked him with a screwdriver — prompting further concerns that the Temple Mount security crisis might exacerbate tensions between the neighboring states.

The United Nations Security Council has convened to discuss the latest exacerbation in the region. The Middle East Quartet, consisting of the US, Russia, the UN, and EU, call on all sides “to demonstrate maximum restraint, refrain from provocative actions and work towards de-escalating the situation.”

Inessa Sinchougova is an Editor and Journalist at Fort Russ News, as well as a research fellow and translator of the Belgrade based think-tank, the Center for Syncretic Studies. She was educated at Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand), in the field of Political Science and was previously employed in Marketing and Communications Strategy for a Multi-National Corporation. She runs a popular YouTube channel for translations of key Russian Foreign Policy figures and appears regularly on other alternative media channels. If you like her work, you can support her Patreon here.